vsing this exercise, he had not deserued the name of _Tragicus
Orator_, who should rather haue studied to expresse _vim Demos-
thenis_, than _furorem Poætæ_, how good so euer he was, whom he
did folow.
And therfore would I haue our Scholemaster wey well
together _Homer_ and _Plato_, and marke diligentlie these foure
pointes, what is kept: what is added: what is left out: what
is changed, either, in choise of wordes, or forme of sentences:
which foure pointes, be the right tooles, to handle like a worke-
man, this kinde of worke: as our Scholer shall better vnder-
stand, when he hath bene a good while in the Vniuersitie:
to which tyme and place, I chiefly remitte this kinde of exercise.
And bicause I euer thought examples to be the best kinde
of teaching, I will recite a golden sentence out of that Poete,
which is next vnto _Homer_, not onelie in tyme, but also in
worthines: which hath bene a paterne for many worthie
wittes to follow, by this kind of _Metaphrasis_, but I will content
my selfe, with foure workemen, two in _Greke_, and two in _Latin_,
soch, as in both the tonges, wiser & worthier, can not be looked
for. Surelie, no stone set in gold by most cunning workemen,
is in deed, if right counte be made, more worthie the looking
on, than this golden sentence, diuerslie wrought vpon, by soch
foure excellent Masters.
_Hesiodus_. 2.
1. outos men panariotos, os auto panta noese,
phrassamenos ta k epeita kai es telos esin ameino:
2. esthlos d au kakeinos, os eu eiponti pithetai,
3. os de ke met autos noee, met allou akouon
en thymo balletai, o d aut achreios aner.
¶ Thus rudelie turned into
base English.
1. _That man in wisedome passeth all,
to know the best who hath a head:_
2. _And meetlie wise eeke counted shall,
who yeildes him selfe to wise mens read:_
3. _Who hath no witte, nor none will heare,
amongest all fooles the bell may beare._
_the ready way to the Latin tong._ 257
_Sophocles in Antigone._
1. Phem egoge presbeuein poly,
Phynai ton andra pant epiotemes pleon:
2. Ei d oun (philei gar touto me taute repein),
Kai ton legonton eu kalon to manthanein.
Marke the wisedome of _Sophocles_, in leauyng out the last
sentence, because it was not cumlie for the sonne to vse it to
his father.
¶ _D. Basileus in his Exhortation to youth._
Memnesthe tou Esiodou, os phesi, ariston men einai
ton par eautou ta deonta xynoronta. 2. Esthlon de kakei-
non, ton tois, par eteron ypodeicheisin epomenon. 3. ton
de pros oudeteron epitedeion achreion einai pros apanta.
¶ M. Cic. Pro A. Cluentio.
1. _Sapientissimum esse dicunt eum, cui, quod opus sit, ipsi veniat in
mentem:_ 2. _Proxime accedere illum, qui alterius bene inuentis
obtemperet._ 3. _In stulticia contra est: minus enim stultus est
is, cui nihil in mentem venit, quam ille, qui, quod stultè alteri venit
in mentem comprobat._
_Cicero_ doth not plainlie expresse the last sentence, but doth
inuent it fitlie for his purpose, to taunt the folie and simplicitie
in his aduersarie _Actius_, not weying wiselie, the sutle doynges
of _Chrysogonus_ and _Staienus_.
¶ Tit. Liuius in Orat. Minutij. Lib. 22.
1. _Sæpe ego audiui milites; eum primum esse virum, qui ipse
consulat, quid in rem sit:_ 2. _Secundum eum, qui bene monenti
obediat:_ 3. _Qui, nec ipse consulere, nec alteri parere scit, eum
extremi esse ingenij._
Now, which of all these foure, _Sophocles, S. Basil, Cicero_, or
_Liuie_, hath expressed _Hesiodus_ best, the iudgement is as hard, as
the workemanship of euerie one is most excellent in deede. An
other example out of the _Latin_ tong also I will recite, for the
worthines of the workeman therof, and that is _Horace_, who hath